EUGENE _ If Darron Thomas hadn’t been wearing a red, look-but-don’t-touch jersey, Josh Kaddu could have done some serious damage.

Kaddu came untouched off the end of the line of scrimmage Tuesday in an 11-on-11 drill, and zeroed in on Thomas like a guided missile.

Kaddu pulled up at the last minute, but the uniformed officials working the drill called it a sack.

“I love the SAM backer position,” said Kaddu, a 6-foot-3, 235-pound junior who was becoming a force last season before a broken foot ended his season after seven games. “It comes with a lot of blitzing, which I like to do -- come off the edge and pass rush.”

In Oregon’s system, the SAM, or strong outside linebacker, is a combo position that includes pass rush and coverage responsibilities.

“Eddie’s fast, one of the fastest players on our team,” UO linebackers coach Don Pellum said. “Eddie excelled at the SAM because people couldn’t block him. In the blitz game, he would run around them. He was just so quick. These guys are not as quick as Eddie, but they’re longer. In terms of coming off the edge in passing lanes, these guys can get up and knock balls down because they’re longer.”

They can see over a pass-blocking tackle or tight end in a way that the 5-11, 213-pound Pleasant could not. And they might hold up better against a power-running team too.

Lokombo, 6-3, 223, doesn’t have Kaddu’s heft or knowledge of the system. But he has the kind of athletic ability that demands playing time.

“The first four or five days of camp, he picked off a ball every day,” Pellum said. “And he got his hands on a lot of them. His athleticism is something we really need in this defense.”

Pellum called Kaddu “tremendously agile and really explosive. Josh can pass rush and he can cover. He can do both. He’s very cerebral.”

In fact, Kaddu has the ability to play any of Oregon’s three linebacker positions.

“He gives us a lot of flexibility,” Pellum said.

But barring injury to starting inside linebackers Spencer Paysinger or Casey Matthews, expect Kaddu to start at the SAM position. Expect Lokombo to see action there too.

They aren’t competing for the position as much as sharing it. They have been friends since Kaddu hosted Lokombo on his recruiting visit, and each admires the way the other plays.

“I like the way he rushes the passer,” Lokombo said. “He’s an outgoing guy. He gets us really pumped up.”

Of Lokombo, Kaddu said: “He’s excellent at coverage, and he can come off the edge a little bit too. He has a lot of potential.”

The UO coaches are seeing all sorts of possibilities. With multi-faceted defensive end Kenny Rowe on one side of the line of scrimmage, and either Kaddu or Lokombo on the other, Oregon can alter the shape and form of the defense without a situational substitution.

In fact, both Kaddu and Lokombo run well enough to stay on the field when the Ducks go to their dime package, featuring six defensive backs.

“We can do a job-swap and make them the defensive ends,” Pellum said. “We used to do that with Derrick Barnes and Reggie Jordan. At the same time, we can move them both inside. They can cover backs. They can blitz.”

It makes for a more versatile defense, and one that probably packs a harder punch.

Kaddu is eager to get back onto the field after a tough offseason that included having to sit out spring practice while rehabbing his injured foot, and an embarrassing brush with trouble, when Eugene police cited him on a minor-in-possession charge.

It was one of a string of highly-publicized appearances by the Ducks on the police blotter between the 2010 Rose Bowl and the start of spring practice..

“I was caught in a bad light doing the wrong thing,” Kaddu said. “I made a bad decision. I’ve learned from my mistakes and hopefully moved forward.”

It’s exactly what UO fans should expect to see: Kaddu -- or Lokombo, for that matter -- moving forward, in hot pursuit of the quarterback.